When political talk show host Bill Press went on a speaking tour last year to plug the release of his book, "Spin This! All The Ways We Don't Tell the Truth," ($26, Pocket Books) he made appearances at bookshops in all the major cities -- Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Point Reyes Station.

His favorite stop on the tour was the latter, at Manfred's Books, because longtime friends from the community and nearby Inverness were able to come down and celebrate with the silver-haired pundit who they get to see only a few times a year.

If he wanted to, Press could have one of the worst commutes possible -- 6, 000 miles round-trip.

But instead of wearing himself thin on jetliners, the nationally recognized liberal, who co-hosts "Buchanan and Press" opposite conservative Pat Buchanan weekdays on MSNBC, lives and works along the Beltway and flies home to West Marin no more than a few times each year. Press also hosts a four-hour morning drive-time radio show five days a week on WMAL. The common topic, of course, is politics.

"Politics is something I was trying to get out of when we moved to Inverness in 1970," Press said. "I had been teaching the History of Religion at Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco. I had experience in politics having previously worked for (former San Francisco Supervisor) Roger Boas. Roger was a tyrant to work for."

Press recalled reading an article about Peter Behr, the late state senator who was running for office at the time and who had also been leading a campaign to create the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. On a whim, he phoned Behr.

"I had been way out of politics and he was running for state Senate. We met for lunch -- and by the end of it, Peter wanted me to run his campaign," Press said.

The rest of Press' political career -- which included becoming Behr's senatorial chief of staff and director of the state Office of Planning and Research under Jerry Brown's administration, along with an ill-fated run for state Insurance Commissioner in 1990 and a stint as chairman of the California Democratic Party from 1993-1996 -- is history. He's happier these days with the rigors of daily radio and television.

Because he and wife Carol still maintain a home in Inverness (and because she sells clothing at Black Mountain Weavers in Pt. Reyes), the Presses still consider themselves to be locals. Inverness is where they raised two sons, Mark and David, both now grown -- David works as a biologist for the national parks service, while Mark is finishing up a masters at UC Davis. Their multilevel home is equipped with a complete solar electric system and the property boasts a lush herb and flower garden.

"When I talk to the politicians about ecology and the environment they know that I am practicing what I preach," Press said.

"I offered myself to KABC television in Los Angeles," he said. "I decided to start at the No. 1 station in the state and work my way down to somewhere like Fresno." The station hired him on the spot to do nightly political commentary and Press spent the next nine years working in television and radio in Southern California, commuting back to Inverness on the weekends. He was at KABC from 1980-89, and also did some work for KFI in Los Angeles and KGO in San Francisco.

That all changed just over six years ago when Press read in the Los Angeles Times that CNN was recruiting for a new host for Crossfire.

"The big leap for me was going national," Press said. "I always felt that I was good enough. But there is this thinking in the Beltway that there is no wisdom west of the Potomac. It was constant frustration and I had never been able to break through."

Press said he had met one of Crossfire's producers, who several years earlier had taken on conservative Pat Buchanan in a political debate.

"He remembered seeing me. I told him that I was as good as the others -- and to give me a chance." The assertive ploy worked. The Presses packed up and moved to Washington.

He made it into the Crossfire in 1996 and left earlier this year for MSNBC, where he was reunited with Buchanan.

"I like working with Pat," Press said. "He is an extreme conservative. He and I work well together, bouncing off each other."

Dave Mitchell, publisher of the weekly Point Reyes Light newspaper and a longtime Press ally -- said that it's both Press' political background and skill as an interviewer that is key to his success.

"I would say two things -- and he would not make it if it were not for both, " Mitchell said. "One, is that he does an incredible amount of homework. He does exhaustive reading to keep up with what is happening and reads both the left and the right, though he is usually placed on the left. He knows what some of the right-wing journalists are saying. The second part is that he doesn't get himself caught in personality fights. He manages to continually steer any argument back to the topic and back to the people."

Mitchell also called Press a local.

"He always goes out in the world and comes back here, out in the world and comes back here," Mitchell said. "He was down in L.A. for a while, and Sacramento and Washington. He draws from West Marin."

Outside in the garden on a recent Sunday, Press sipped iced tea while Carol prepared for a drive into Pt. Reyes to drop off donations for a local rummage sale.

Press says he and Carol can't return to Inverness "as often as we'd like. We still vote in California and support a lot of community things. Here we just have friends -- and love the anonymity of it all.

"When we come to town we tend to have a lot of friends over for dinner or go to dinner parties," Press said. "We spend time with the kids. And there are so many favorite places to go to -- like hiking or to Shell Beach and McClure's Beach. I hope it gives me some grounding and some touch with reality.

I think there are a lot of people in Washington, D.C., who are appreciative of the environment. It's reinforced for me every time I come back out here."